Michael Powell film-maker.

Michael Latham Powell (September 30, 1905-February 19, 1990) was a British film director, renowned for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger which produced a series of classic British films. Download high resolution version (536x864, 81 KB)Film-maker Michael Powell This work is copyrighted. ... Download high resolution version (536x864, 81 KB)Film-maker Michael Powell This work is copyrighted. ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 92 days remaining. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the Temptations album, see 1990 (Temptations album) MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ... Emeric Pressburger (December 5, 1902 – February 5, 1988) was a Jewish Hungarian screenwriter and producer, who emigrated to England in the 1930s. ...

Powell was born in Bekesbourne, Kent, and educated at King's School, Canterbury and then at Dulwich College. He worked in a bank before becoming an actor and entering the film industry through working with Rex Ingram in France. He developed his skills directing 'quota quickies', sometimes making up to 7 films a year. In 1939 he met Emeric Pressburger whilst they worked together on The Spy in Black — working together as co-producers, writers and directors in a partnership they dubbed "The Archers", they made nineteen feature films, many of which received critical and commercial success, and their best films are still regarded as classics of 20th century British cinema. Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Kings School may refer to more than one school. ... St Peters St, Canterbury, from the West Gate, 1993 Canterbury (Latin: Duroverum) is a cathedral city in the county of Kent in southeast England. ... Dulwich College gates Dulwich College is an independent, fee-paying school, called a public school in the UK, in Dulwich, south-east London, England. ... Rex Ingram (January 12, 1893 – July 21, 1950) was a film director, producer, writer and actor. ... The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. ... Emeric Pressburger (December 5, 1902 – February 5, 1988) was a Jewish Hungarian screenwriter and producer, who emigrated to England in the 1930s. ... Conrad Veidt in The Spy in Black. ... Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...

Although proponents would argue that Powell ought to rank alongside Hitchcock and Lean as one of the greatest British film directors, his career suffered a severe reversal after the release of the confronting psychological thriller film Peeping Tom in 1960 as a solo effort. The film was excoriated by British critics, who were offended by its Freudian overtones and challenged by its reflexive subtext, and Powell was ostracised by the film industry and found it almost impossible to work thereafter. His offence, it seemed, was to have made a horror movie that was genuinely horrific. However, his reputation was restored over the years, and by the time of his death he and Pressburger were recognised as one of the foremost film partnerships of all time. Thriller films are movies that primarily use action and suspense to engage the audience. ... Peeping Tom is a 1960 psychological horror film by the British film director Michael Powell. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Filmography

For his films with Emeric Pressburger, see Powell and Pressburger and Powell and Pressburger films

Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...

Early work

His early film are mostly low-quality 'quota quickies':

• 1928: Riviera Revels
• 1930: Caste (uncredited)
• 1931: Two Crowded Hours
• 1932: His Lordship, C.O.D., Hotel Splendide, The Star Reporter, Rynox, The Rasp, My Friend the King
• 1933: Born Lucky
• 1934: Something Always Happens, Red Ensign (US title: Strike!), The Fire Raisers
• 1935: Someday (aka Young Nowheres), The Price of a Song, The Phantom Light, The Night of the Party (US title: The Murder Party), The Love Test, Lazybones, The Girl in the Crowd
• 1936: The Man Behind the Mask (reissued as Behind the Mask), Crown Vs. Stevens (aka Third Time Unlucky), The Brown Wallet, Her Last Affaire

Other films

From late 1930s onwards, most of Powell's films were in collaboration with Pressburger. His solo films were:

• The Edge of the World (1937)
• Smith (1939)
• The Lion Has Wings (1939, RAF documentary footage with some fictional intercuts)
• The Thief of Bagdad (1940, co-director)
• An Airman's Letter to His Mother (1941, a 5-minute short)
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1955, a short)
• Luna de miel (1959, aka Honeymoon)
• Peeping Tom (1960)
• The Queen's Guards (1961)
• Herzog Blaubarts Burg (1964, aka Bluebeard's Castle)
• They're a Weird Mob (1966, Pressburger helped on script as Richard Imrie)
• Age of Consent (1969)
• Return to the Edge of the World (1978, for British TV, framing of the original 1937 film)

Powell also directed episodes of the TV series The Defenders, Espionage and The Nurses. MacGinnis, Chrystall and Berry in The Edge of the World. ... The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 swashbuckler film which tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph. ... Peeping Tom is a 1960 psychological horror film by the British film director Michael Powell. ... Poster for Theyre a Weird Mob. ... Mason and Mirren in Age of Consent. ...

Other works

Books

• 1938: 200,000 feet on Foula - the story of the making of The Edge of the World
• 1956: The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee - includes a lot of information that they couldn't fit in the film The Battle of the River Plate
• 1975: A Waiting Game - A novel of Ireland
• 1978: The Red Shoes
• 1986: A Life In Movies - autobiography (Part I)
• 1992: Million Dollar Movie - autobiography (Part II)
• 1994: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Foula shown within Shetland Islands On the same latitude as Saint Petersburg lies hidden the bleak and yet spectacular island of Foula, Britain’s remotest and most westerly, permanently inhabited island, being one of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, and owned since the turn of the 20th Century by the Holbourn... MacGinnis, Chrystall and Berry in The Edge of the World. ... The Battle of the River Plate (1956) is a film by the British-based director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger. ...

Theatre

• 1944: Directed January de Hartog's Skipper Next To God at the Theatre Royal, Windsor
• 1944: Directed Ernest Hemingway's The Fifth Column at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow
• 1951: Directed James Forsyth's Heloise at the Golders Green Theatre, London

External links

• Michael Powell at the Powell & Pressburger Pages.
• Michael Powell at the Internet Movie Database
• Articles on his early work and sense of landscape.
• BFI Filmography
• NFT interviews (audio clips)

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), owned by Amazon. ...